Thursday, December 29, 2011

365 days of Twinipedia - Day 11

Day Eleven of Twinipedia:

Fact #11:

The Yoruba tribe in Nigeria has the highest incidence of twinning in the entire world. Why? They believe it is because they eat lots of yams.

Background - The Central African country of Benin produced the highest rate of twin: 27.9/1,000. While all of Central Africa has a higher than average twin rate (18/1,000), Benin reported even more twins! Like Nigeria, long recognized as a hotbed of twinning, Benin is home to many families from the Yoruba tribe. Some attribute their abundance of twins to diet; the Cassava, a type of yam, may induce hyperovulation.My Great Source of Info. - About.com http://multiples.about.com/b/2011/10/17/who-has-the-most-twins.htm

Additional Information from Wikipedia-

Twins in Yoruba society

The Yoruba present the highest dizygotic twinning rate in the world (4.4 % of all maternities).[21] Twins are very important for the Yoruba and they usually tend to give special names to each twin.[22]The first of the twins to be born is traditionally named Taiyewo or Tayewo, which means 'the first to taste the world', this is often shortened to Taiwo, Taiye or Taye. Kehinde, or Kenny for short, is the name of the last born twin. Kehinde is sometimes also referred to as Kehindegbegbon which is short for Omokehindegbegbon and means, 'the child that came last gets the rights of the eldest'.